Do You Know the (Green) Wave in San Jose?

No. A green wave isn’t something you do at a New York Jets or a Michigan State Spartans game. A green wave is that thing your dad or obsessive friend or maybe YOU do when you try to synchronize your driving with the changing of sequential traffic lights.

Connected Signals, BMW and Argonne National Lab are kicking off a study in San Jose which will run for six months. The study is intended to help determine the real world safety and fuel-efficiency benefits of connecting traffic light data to vehicles.

Automakers and the Federal government in the U.S. believe that providing signal information can reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by 10% or more. To prove their point these organizations require data confirming these benefits to guide their future decision-making.

To overcome the lack of data, the City of San Jose is supporting the study by providing real-time traffic light information from the city’s traffic management system. Together with predictive information about upcoming light changes developed by Connected Signals, this data should help the 400 participating drivers safely cruise through more lights while they are green, and warn them to slow down approaching lights that will be red.

Connected Signals says that instruments in participating vehicles will let ANL’s experts analyze how providing this information affects safety and fuel consumption. It is hoped that the results of this study, which is supported in part by the US Department of Energy’s Small Business Vouchers Pilot program, will help shape policy, infrastructure, and technology adoption for connected and autonomous vehicles in the coming years.

Connected Signals already provides the Enlighten app for informing existing BMW owners – using the BMW Apps interface – of the signal phase and timing of traffic lights as displayed in the infotainment system for appropriately equipped BMWs. But the app is only useful in those cities where Connected Signals has gained access to the traffic light information.

The test being run by Connected Signals is an excellent example of an effort to prove a claim previously taken for granted. For further details or to sign up for the pilot check these links:

https://connectedsignals.com/studies/

http://www.testmiles.com/know-when-that-stop-light-going-change/

And drive safely.

Roger C. Lanctot is Associate Director in the Global Automotive Practice at Strategy Analytics. More details about Strategy Analytics can be found here: https://www.strategyanalytics.com/access-services/automotive#.VuGdXfkrKUk